S.F. plane crash: No fire crews recall hitting victim

Fire trucks surround the fuselage of the Asiana Airlines jet that crashed as it tried to land Saturday at San Francisco International Airport.

Fire trucks surround the fuselage of the Asiana Airlines jet that...

While San Francisco police and fire heroics were on full national display, local officials were privately wrestling behind the scenes with the painful possibility that one of their own emergency crews fatally struck one of the two young Chinese girls found dead after Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed.

"We completed our procedures and interviews with everyone, and nobody has any recollection of coming into contact with the victim," said Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White.

"I couldn't be more proud of our first responders' efforts under extraordinary circumstances," the chief said.

The drivers of all five trucks that raced to the scene underwent routine drug and alcohol testing.

"All were negative," Hayes-White said.

The Police Department - which is heading the accident investigation - is turning over all its results to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Fire Lt. Christine Emmons, who was among those who emotionally described her rescue efforts at a news conference Monday, reportedly provided police investigators with an account of arriving on the scene early on to find the girl - concluding she was already dead.

It's unclear whether the girl had been hit by a rig before Emmons' crew arrived. Her statement has not been divulged.

But as Hayes-White told us, "I'm hopeful the coroner's findings indicate that the fatal injuries were sustained prior to any contact with our apparatus."

Opening debate: The decision to delay the opening of the $6.4 billion eastern span of the Bay Bridge was not unanimous among the experts Caltrans brought in to assist with the call.

"There was a lot of discussion in the last couple of weeks about whether, even without the fix, the new span is still safer than the old one," said one source close to the discussions, who asked not to be named before Wednesday's Caltrans briefing before the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

However, opening the span without fixing the 32 snapped rods in the structures designed to keep the bridge stable in an earthquake would have meant retrofitting bearings to accommodate the changeover - adding time and money to what is already estimated to be a $15 million repair job.

Plus, there was a question of how the public would react to opening a bridge still under construction.

"The feeling was that the public and elected officials overseeing the project wanted a new bridge that would be as safe as possible - not just safer than the old bridge," said our source.

Delaying the opening past Labor Day weekend, however, also presents a host of new challenges.

For starters, the days are a lot shorter in December, making the work harder. There's also a lot more bad weather in December, which would slow paving work - meaning the bridge shutdown needed to complete the transition to the new span could take a lot longer than the 3 1/2 days that were scheduled over Labor Day weekend.

If there appears to be good weather, then chances are the big move will be made earlier than Dec. 10.

Sink or swim: If yachting fever doesn't catch on quickly here, San Francisco could be on the hook for at least $8 million in losses from hosting the America's Cup.

"It's a challenge - I have to admit it," Mayor Ed Lee said of the private fundraising meant to defray the city's costs for hosting the event.

It hasn't helped that the Italian entry sat out the first race of the preliminary competition in a protest over safety rules - leaving New Zealand's entry as the lone boat racing in the opening round.

Even before the latest PR snafu, private fundraising had fallen well short of the $22 million pledged by the city - and there is little indication that the civic group overseeing the effort will be able to make up the gap.

Since taking over the stalled fundraising, the Mayor's OneSF Committee has raised about $600,000. However, half of that went to race organizers and doesn't count against the city's pledged contribution to staging the America's Cup.

The city initially agreed to raise $32 million for what was being billed as an international regatta featuring as many as a dozen competitors - and promising to draw $300 million in corporate sponsorships.

But as the number of race competitors and attendance expectations shrank, so did corporate sponsorships.

"It has been a heavy lift," said Mark Buell, chair of the America's Cup Organizing Committee, the man heading the private fundraising.

Stephen Barclay, CEO of the America's Cup's Event Authority, declined to comment on any of the fundraising issues, referring all questions to the mayor's office and Buell's committee.

The mayor's office says if the fundraising comes up short, the city will probably make up its losses from the extra hotel and other tax revenue generated from hosting the races.

But no matter how you cut it - the city still pays the bill.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com